Wednesday, June 26, 2013

That doesn't sound fun

"Fifteen Maryland militiamen were captured, and tortured [by the Susquehannock Indians]. They were dropped twice into a raging fire intensified by bear fat and pitch... then taken out, bound to flaming poles, and slowly roasted until a designated 'devil chaser' tore the flesh from their faces, cut out their tongues, cut off their fingers and toes, which he threaded on strings for necklaces and knee bands, and finally tied them to burning bundles of reeds while boys 'with a great noise' shot arrows into their smoldering bodies." -- Bernard Bailyn, The Barbarous Years, p. 154